Study: Social Media Easily Manipulated
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New research shows that social media companies differ in their ability to stop social media manipulation.
The NATO Strategic Communications Center of Excellence carried out the study. Two American senators took part.
Researchers from the center, based in Riga, Latvia, paid three Russian companies for
fake social media
engagement. For around $368, researchers got 337,768 fake likes, views and shares of posts on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and TikTok.
Some of those fake likes, views, and shares appeared on the verified accounts of Senators Chuck Grassley and Chris Murphy. Verified accounts are those that social media companies have confirmed as owned and controlled by the individual or group named on the account.